PAW PAW, MI – After divorcing his wife in 1989, Joseph W. Stroup told a Van Buren County judge he was disabled and unemployed and was able to get support payments for his four children reduced to $14 a month.

Then, in 1996, according to the U.S. Office of Inspector General, Stroup, 60, sold a successful Internet business for more than $2 million and hasn’t been seen – nor made a child support payment --- since.

Now, he stands $559,900 in arrears and has been tagged by the OIG as the agency’s “Most Wanted Deadbeat.”

Stroup was indicted in July 1998 in U.S. District Court in Kalamazoo for failing to pay child support. On Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Grand Rapids filed a motion to have the indictment unsealed, contending that Stroup “has been a fugitive since 1997, and continued sealing of the indictment no longer serves its intended purpose.”

U.S. Magistrate Ellen S. Carmody granted the motion the same day.

According to the Office of Inspector General, Stroup was ordered to pay his wife $100 per month in child support in August 1989. However, he later had that payment reduce to $14 per month “as a result of telling the court he was unemployed and medically disable.d”

It wasn’t until 1996, that the court in Van Buren County learned that Stroup was operating a successful Internet business that he “ultimately sold for over $2 million,” according to the OIG.

After the discovery, authorities said the order for Stroup to pay child support was modified to account for his unreported income.

Authorities said Stroup has not made any child support payments since June 1996. His whereabouts are unknown and he is currently a fugitive from justice.

Rex Hall Jr. is a public safety reporter for the Kalamazoo Gazette. You can reach him at rhall2@mlive.com. Follow him on Twitter.